Family pose wearing PPE for heartbreaking last picture with mum, 75, hours before coronavirus death
A FAMILY posed wearing PPE for a final picture with a 75-year-old mum who died from the coronavirus just hours later.
Joan Wright died last week in Furness General Hospital in Cumbria with her husband, who is still in hospital fighting the virus, holding her hand and the family standing by her side.
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Joan had asked for the photo to be taken shortly before she died, according to her daughter Deborah Buchanan, from Newtownabbey in Country Antrim.
The pictures shows Joan in bed, with her husband, Ms Buchanan’s father and other family members, all dressed in PPE.
Ms Buchanan said in a Facebook post: “This is the reality of coronavirus. Wake up and wise up.
“This is not going away anytime soon and more and more people are going to die.
“Don’t let it be your parent or grandparent or any member of your family who ends up like this.
“Stay away from those you love, and protect yourselves and them.”
Both of Ms Buchanan’s parents had tested positive for the coronavirus on April 27, having been admitted to hospital.
She then travelled to the hospital after she had been requested to attend and added that her mum, who was on a ventilator, was in good spirits at the start and was “happy, talking and joking.”
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But a few hours later her mum’s condition worsened and her family returned to the hospital where she died shortly after.
Ms Buchanan said: “We had to watch her gasp her last breaths and slip away in agony.
“My dad says this is the worst thing he has ever felt in his life, he fears going to sleep in case he doesn’t wake up.
“They hadn’t left the house in weeks but still picked this up and both took very unwell.
“My dad is still in hospital and not out of the woods yet, his heart is broken and he has to continue to fight to try and beat this.”
She added they were lucky to be there when her mum died but also pleaded with others to stay at home and stay safe.
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Ms Buchanan said: “Please, stay at home, please do not go through the heartache we have had to. Ours isn’t over yet.”
Buchanan told Northern Ireland’s Sunday Life newspaper that her mother and father had moved to Cumbria 15 years ago when they retired.
They had been together more than 50 years.
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